


Picture Perfect…

by Mistymay6886



Series: Time And Place (Verse 8) [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Family Drama, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Mad Scientists, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:14:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25462267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mistymay6886/pseuds/Mistymay6886
Summary: Simon’s 1stday working for Oasis is something else: navigating working with Military and security types like Alec and Bindy, crazy scientists led by their fearless (and fabulous) leader Magnus Bane, a random case with a picture perfect family from the 1950’s that’s anything but ‘perfect’, and a near certain supervillian boss who is equal parts intimidating and exhilarating and entirely too flirty for Simon’s own good is a lot for a flaily, babbly, way too excitable college student to handle…But Simon is nothing if not adaptable…That’s good…Between the Mags-sanity, Beck’s ‘helpfulness’ and Raphael’s secrets he’s REALLY  gonna need it.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Simon Lewis/Raphael Santiago
Series: Time And Place (Verse 8) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1351195
Comments: 14
Kudos: 30





	1. The First Day Of The Rest Of Your Life

**Author's Note:**

> Hi again! I’m back…I really love this verse- I have SO many ideas, my head just kinda ran with it. This is gonna be a really fun verse to play in- we’re gonna get a great mix of random history blips, crazy future blips (and entire storylines), dinosaurs and other random monsters from the past, terrifying monsters and more from the future, and a whole laundry list of other craziness that we couldn’t get anywhere else…what’s not to like?
> 
> Oh, one more thing? From here on out I’m gonna try (TRY being the operative word) to keep to just having 1 section per chapter whenever possible. When I started writing having the multiple parts was a good way to beef up the chapters as they were pretty short but as I now regularly have chapters that go over 10k words and my average length of sections has went from less than 2 k to around 4-6k or more I think we’re good.
> 
> Stories are still gonna be long (Don’t worry) still a lot of shifting POV’s cause I really love that, and likely still some random meandering parts just because I can’t seem to help it but from here on out I’m trying to cut down on the ‘filler’ type sections and chapters.
> 
> I don’t know how it’s gonna go…but that’s my goal…
> 
> Kay enough of me babbling…
> 
> Back to the actual story….Simon’s 1st day of the rest of his life…
> 
> Let’s find out…

## 

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##  *-Simon-*-Simon-*-Simon-*-Simon-*-Simon-*

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_Ugh this is just ridiculous where did that litt-_

“Damnit Becks, where is my watch? It’s my first day, I can’t be late! I’m already gonna be the least qualified person working there, plus I’m gonna be just…well _me_. Way too eager, too uncoordinated, too flaily, too loud, just too much. I always am- _especially_ on a first day. The nervous energy, excitement and eagerness always gets the best of me.

I know I’m gonna have to work overtime to correct whatever over the top first impression I make. Most of the people working there won’t believe I belong there - won’t think I’m mature or responsible or skilled enough for it- I really don’t want to add undependable to that as well. Where is my watch?”

Becks shifted, raising one of the front appendages gesturing towards a simple, clean styled black holowatch setting on the desk, giving an innocent little shrug. Simon huffed, rolling his eyes, shaking his head, eyebrow quirking.

“Not that one- you know the one I mean…”

A series of beeps and boops the little legs shifting and flittering exasperatedly again gesturing towards the black watch. Simon groaned, crossing his arms.

“Damnit Beck’s I don’t have time for this, where’s MY watch?”

The little tredectipod stood there for a moment, standing up a bit straighter, two of its legs folding across it perfectly mimicking Simon’s stance, digging in just as stubborn. They glared at each other in a stalemate.

Finally Simon gave a faint, frustrated growl, shifting forward.

“Okay Becks I don’t have time for your obnoxious little drama queen, fashionista temper tantrum- I don’t. I have less than fifteen minutes before I have to leave. If I don’t get my watch back in the next two you are not coming with me.”

Beck’s ocular censor widened, letting out a high pitched string of chatter, legs flailing every which way. Simon shook his head.

“No it’s not- it’s totally fair. Get me my watch right now or you’re staying home. And if I come home and the watch still isn’t back you will stay home for the rest of the week. No discussion. And I know you’re reading my vitals so you know I mean it.”

Becks gave a little whining noise, kind of slumping down ocular censor widening before kind of dimming, looking downcast, glancing up kind of hesitantly.

Simon shook his head.

“Don’t give me that look, it’s not gonna work.” He held his hand out.

“Watch. Now.”

Becks kind of fidgeted, shifting from one leg to another. Simon huffed, giving a dismissive shrug.

“Alright fine, have it your way.” He turned, grabbing his bag off the desk, beginning for the door.

A series of alarmed, frantic beeps, boops and trills sounded behind him, the little tredectipod scrambling after his catching his pant leg tugging anxiously for him to stop. He paused, glancing down, head tilting expectantly. Becks huffed faintly skittering past him, clambering up the papier-mâché Jersey Devil Clary made him last year, hoping off the head of the thing onto the top of the bookcase, one feeler snaking down behind the fixture on his wall mounted Tardis mood light, pulling out the neon green, orange reflecting watch.

Becks turned, scrambling back down from the bookshelf, coming back over to Simon, stopping just in front of his, giving one more faint, near pouty huff, slumping a bit before holding the watch up for Simon.

Simon smiled, nodding approvingly, leaning forward to retrieve the watch. He shifted back up, slipping the watch on his wrist, clicking a few buttons to adjust the fit, wiping off the screen, flicking through the processes on the screen, ensuring it was updated with all the info for the day before glancing back down at Becks, flashing a faint grin.

“There, thank you.”

Becks huffed, slumping down more, ocular censor rolling faintly, front tendrils crossing, giving a slightly petulant little shrug.

Simon couldn’t help a little chuckle, rolling his eyes affectionately at the sulky little tredectipod, kneeling down next to him, lightly patting his head.

“Now come on- don’t be like that Becks.”

Becks shifted away a bit, fidgeting, giving a soft little trilling boop like noise. Simon tried to hide his smile, shaking his head faintly.

“Alright I know that was harsh but it was necessary.”

Beck’s shook his head, gesturing towards the watch on his wrist then back at the black one on the desk a series of clicks, whistles and beeps following.

Again Simon shook his head.

“I know, I know- you were just trying to help. But I like it.” He shifted, flashing a near teasing smile.

“Besides you have to admit it does kinda go with my shirt. The green even matches the picture of Nessie.”

Beck’s stood up straight in alarm, head shaking quickly, scrambling around to face Simon. His tendrils flailed, gesturing animatedly towards the black tee-shirt with an iridescent green loch ness monster under bright violet lettering proclaiming ‘Nessie Doesn’t Believe In You Either’.

Becks again shook his head, waving vigorously, gesturing from Simon over to his closet.

Simon tilted his head, eyebrow quirking.

“Hmm? What do you mean- I am ready.”

Becks startled, ocular sensor widening even more, glowing brightly, colors flickering and flashing through the entire spectrum, a chattering burst of clicks, trills and squeaks, legs flailing animatedly. Simon shrugged, unconcerned.

“Nah this is fine, I’m good. Magnus did say to dress comfortably and most people think Nessie’s a Plesiosaur- something they’ve apparently dealt with before. Might be a good ice breaker. Let’s head out.” Simon stood up, again turning for the door.

An alarmed series of boops, trills and dolphin like clicks followed in his wake. Becks scrambled after him, darting past him whirling around standing as tall as he could stretching a few of his tendrils out in an attempt to block the door, using a couple more to flail and gesture, one pointing at Simon in a near scolding type gesture- a sharp, rapid fire burst of clicks, squeaks, chatter and beeps accompanying the tredectipod dressing-down.

Simon tried to keep a straight face for as long as he could before losing it, laughing brightly, flashing a playful, near teasing grin, eyebrow quirking.

“Becks dude breathe- I’m kidding. I know I’m kinda fashion challenged but you don’t really think I’m THIS bad do you?”

Becks scoffed, ocular sensor shifting over him before giving a sharp, unimpressed nod.

“Hey!”

Becks shrugged right back, head tilting smugly. Simon couldn’t help a bit of a laugh, rolling his eyes at the tredectipod, turning to the closet, opening the door, grabbing his light blue, Tardis dotted button up off the hanger, slipping it on over his tees shirt, buttoning it up most of the way, tucking it in, grabbing his matching suit jacket off the hook on the back of the door, slipping it on as well, straightening it before turning around, striking a little pose, flashing a smile.

“See, not so bad right?”

Becks shrugged, one tendril holding up, moving back and forth in a ‘eh’ kinda gesture. Simon huffed, rolling his eyes, waving the diva tredectipod off.

“Hey this is the best I got okay? It’s a suit, it matches, it fits okay, is pretty comfortable and unless you’re super close you can’t even really see the Tardis’s on the shirt, they just look like a darker blue pattern. I’m not a suit-y person and going by Magnus their not super strict on the whole professional work attire type thing. He actually said straight out not to wear like first day, office type attire and said multiple times no ties- apparently it’s a safety issue.

He said to wear something I’m comfortable in and it’d be a good idea to pick something kinda versatile as you never know what the day’s gonna bring.

This is good.”

Becks scoffed rolling his ocular sensor. Simon rolled his eyes right back, giving a bit of a wave.

“Fine, what’s wrong with it?”

Becks again rolled his ocular sensor (it’s a wonder the damn thing didn’t get stuck), clambering over to the desk, picking up the black watch holding it up.

Simon sighed.

“ _Besides_ that.”

Becks made a little huffing sound, starting a squeaky, trilling rant, Simon held his hand up waving him off.

“No Becks, I’m not budging on this. Look, I know you don’t like it, it’s not fashionable or chic and it’s flashy in all the wrong ways but I don’t care.

This watch is like my good luck charm, and yeah, yeah I know I’m a scientist and that’s not scientific or rational or any of that but still I don’t care. It’s special, it means something.

Clary gave it to me for my thirteenth birthday, she saved her allowance for over two months and had to brave comic con alone to track it down. I’ve worn it on every first day or important event I’ve had. I was even wearing it when we first discovered the Anomalies. I was wearing it when I came up with nearly all my best, favorite inventions…even you.

It was the very first thing you ever criticized.

I know it’s just a replica from a cheesy cartoon from over a decade ago but it’s important to me. I love it and it makes me feel more centered and a bit more confident. I really think I’m gonna need that today.

I know it’s kinda oddball and out there but I’m working with someone who thinks violet snake print heeled boots are proper footwear for a trip to the Cretaceous. Gotta think oddball might kinda fit here.

Right?”

Becks shrugged, giving a conceding nod and a flippant little gesture followed by a string of chirping chatter interspersed with little trilling beeps.

Simon snorted, rolling his eyes exasperatedly.

“Oh he could not make the watch work! I swear we just met him and I already think you like him more than me.”

And again with the ocular sensor rolling followed by a beeping, clicking string of chatter.

Simon chuckled.

“Yeah well that’s not exactly news. You like everyone’s fashion sense more than mine. I’m dreading you meeting Raphael. You think everyone dresses better than me.”

Something very close to a laugh followed by a little clicking trill sounded. Simon snickered, shaking his head.

“Okay well guess it’s something. Good to know I’m ahead of at least one person style wise in your eyes. Though like Alec already told you he’s security- tac gear’s a thing he has to wear. It’s not about fashion it’s about function. Magnus seems to like it.”

Becks scoffed, giving a dismissive wave and a series of clicks, beeps and boops. Simon chuckled, waving him off, flashing a playful smile.

“Yeah well be that as it may he does. Also the man’s a ranking military captain, is trained in combat, military tactics and seems a little bit on the uptight side so maybe play nice? Just try to keep the commentary to a minimum with him, alright? He’s new to the team too and probably under a lot of stress- I don’t want to make that worse.”

A snarky series of trills and whirls. Simon quirked his eyebrow, head tilting.

“Okay- let’s go at this the other way. You piss him off and he probably won’t want to work with us…which means we’d probably be working a lot closer with Bindy.”

Becks shot up straight in alarm, colors flashing a brilliant neon yellow, ocular sensor widening and glowing slightly. He blinked, raising one tendril cautiously, giving three soft beeps.

Simon chuckled, giving a quick nod.

“Good to hear it.” He smiled once more, shifting forward, holding his hand out, Becks clambering up his arm, skittering over his right shoulder and over his head, turning a few times, tendrils shifting and fluttering before finding a comfortable perch, settling on his left shoulder.

Simon smiled, standing up, glancing around the room one last time to be sure he wasn’t forgetting anything. He unzipped the front pocket of the bag, pulling out the manila envelope with his new Oasis Employee I.D. he received just this morning. It wasn’t in the mail, just slipped under his door sometime last night. The only markings on the envelope was a Jurassic Park sticker.

He chuckled, opening the envelope, tugging on the simple black lanyard, pulling the I.D out, holding it in front of him, twisting the lanyard, watching the thin Plasticine badge spin, looking at it from all sides. He reached forward with his free hand, catching it, tracing over the holographic Oasis logo on the back before slowly turning it over watching the holograb play.

They must have used a clip from the security footage. Gotta admit he’s kinda glad-he always hates taking Holograbs for I.D’s. All you have to do is just stand still and smile for like ten seconds. That should not be a challenge but every time he gets so nervous and antsy. He ends up waving or fidgeting or something and the smile always ends up way too big and fake- which is so annoying cause he smiles most of the time- it’s like practically his default expression. Yet put a camera on him and it shifts to this weird combo of the Joker and the Cheshire Cat.

This one’s actually not bad. He’s smiling but it’s a normal, sane looking smile. He’s not really focusing on the camera he smiles at it then kind of shrugs and glances away, brushing his hair back before again glancing back up smiling, this one giving a little glimpse of his dimples, laughing faintly.

_Huh…_

_Actually it’s pretty much the best picture he’s ever taken._

_Like…ever._

Weird…he’s never actually had a flattering I.D. Picture. He didn’t even know that was a thing that could happen- at this point he’s kinda convinced that a flattering picture is a sure sign an I.D. was fake.

Hmm…weird….maybe it’s some kind of tech they’ve developed like Raphael’s atmosphere Generator or Valerie’s awesome death ray or Magnus’s Anomaly stabilizer and all terrain heels.

He gave a soft chuckle, looking over the holograb again, shaking his head in disbelief. Yeah definitely some kind of techy something or other going on there.

He doesn’t even know why he’s surprised- after all: This is freaking Oasis he’s talking about.

**_THE Oasis._ **

The biggest of big leagues.

Largely thought to be the most advanced, cutting edge company in the entire world.

And that’s just from the projects the public knows about.

Oasis is THE holy grail of nerd jobs.

_And he has it._

**_Oh…wow…_ **

****

**_Please_ ** _don’t let me screw this up._

He took a deep breath, trying to settle the sudden fluttering, butterfly like feeling in his stomach, a nervous shiver slipping through him. Becks shifted closer giving a soft little trill, reaching up, a couple tendrils patting lightly at his hair. Simon gave a soft laugh, glancing over, shaking his head.

“No, I’m okay, it just kinda really hit me. I’m really okay, just nervous. GOOD nervous, really good nervous…but yeah.

T-this…this is big…like one of the biggest things to ever happen to me, and this is the first step. I just really don’t want to screw it up.”

Becks chirped lightly, flickering from soft pink to a light, soothing blue, chattering lightly, again patting his head reassuringly.

He smiled, nodding, reaching up, lightly patting Becks head, a couple of his tendrils shifting up, wrapping around his hand, squeezing gently. He squeezed back, taking one more deep, calming breath before giving a slight nod, glancing over, meeting Becks ocular sensor, eyebrow quirking.

“Well first day of the rest of our lives Becks, think we’re ready for this?”

Becks trilled, head nodding affirmative, gesturing towards the door, colors flashing bright shimmering violet, standing up a little straighter, puffing up a bit.

He gave a soft huff of a laugh, nodding back, taking one more deep breath, slipping his I.D. lanyard over his head, tucking it into his jacket, shifting his bag onto the shoulder opposite Becks.

“Well only one way to find out.”

##  {*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^}


	2. Dress To Impress

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##  *-Raphael-*-Raphael-*-Raphael-*-Raphael-*-Raphael-*

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“Ugh...damnit!Seriously grey pinstripe? What was I thinking?” he grumbled agitatedly, pulling the charcoal grey suit jacket off, rumpling it up, tossing it onto the floor with far more force than necessary, beginning on the buttons on the deep burgundy dress shirt, untucking it, stripping it off, tossing it onto the ever-growing pile of rejected options littering the floor of his dressing room.

_Geez by this time it looked like a tornado went through the usually near obsessively organized room._

For crying out loud- he’s getting dressed for work-something he could literally do in his sleep _(has probably more times than he can remember)._ This should NOT be so damn hard.

_It’s NEVER this difficult..._

Of course he’s never actually like **_trying_** _,_ trying either. At least not this way.

Not that he is **_now_**...He’s not...Well not like that...Not really anyways. He just kinda wants to go for a certain look today. A different look.

**_Non_ ** _-supervillianish._

Kind of new territory for him admittedly. Usually if anything he’s actively leaning into it- playing it to the hilt as it were. He’s never really been subtle at it, far from it. He usually delights in the nervous chuckles, rapid blinks or slightly too wide smiles/eyes that tend to crop up when he leans into the act a bit more than usual.

It’s all just harmless fun...well...mostly anyways.

Truthfully most every aspect of his persona tends to be designed to play into his little game. It is a lot of fun but more than that it is extremely useful in this line of work- especially seeing as ‘this line of work’ tends to involve his interacting a lot with overly confident, over-reaching, egotistical jackasses who are accustomed to being the most intimidating/threatening thing in the room. People who just naturally assume that wherever they are and whatever they’re doing it’s gonna be on their terms. That they are in control...they are in charge.

He needs to be quite sure that they know here- in HIS company- they’re not.

Not even close.

Nothing about his persona is accidental- it is calculated...it’s a tool...sometime a weapon...and...okay...yeah, truth be told entertaining as hell...

_Some people fish or scrapbook or paint...he gleefully intimidates, undermines and psychologically manipulates overcompensating, overreaching, wannabe alpha male jackasses._

_Hey everyone needs a hobby okay?_

_Hell of a lot more fun than scrapbooking...fair bit more useful too._

_At least_ **_usually_ ** _it is._

_Until it’s not._

_Like now._

_Ugh..._

God did he always have this much black in his closet? You’d think he was a freaking undertaker...

_Oh yeah- THAT’S a far cry from supervillian._

_Damnit..._

I mean yeah okay admittedly it’s flattering, and classic and totally works for him- like a lot- and it does project a certain air of authority, strength and confidence that’s invaluable when dealing with government agencies, overcompensating jackasses and the other random assorted close-minded ignorami he tends to come into contact with in this line of work but it could be a bit much when the person you’re meeting with isn’t some hyper masculine, overcompensating jarheaded-jackass but rather a sweet, adorable, overly excitable twenty something college student.

Could be a bit over the top there.

He’s past the ‘scare the newbie away’ part of the introduction: way past it. Irritating as it is to admit Mags was right on the money with this one. The guy’s brilliant, brave and insane enough to jump through a hole in time armed only with a homemade robosquid and a dino repelling body spray.

He’ll fit right in.

By this point he’s already signed off, paperwork’s went through, resources have been shifted, more paperwork’s been pushed through, NDA’s have been signed, more paperwork, Psych evals have been conducted, more paperwork, and an elaborate job cover has already been set up- _(Man he did not realize how out of control the paperwork has gotten...maybe he needs to ease up at least a bit...or just not push anyone else through..._

_Yeah lets go with option 2.)_

In any case it’s done: They’re good, he’s good, everything’s set. Simon’s gonna be a great fit for Oasis. Last thing he wants is to scare the guy off now.

I mean that was way too much paperwork to deal with for nothing.

It’s just practical since they’re past the initial ‘welcome to Oasis’ theatrics and initial intimidation attempts for him to try to seem a bit less foreboding for the guy’s first official day. It’s not like he’s trying to impress him or anything- and no he’s not going easy on the guy... _w-well_...okay maybe he is a bit but it’s just because this situation is unique. I mean yeah he’s approaching Simon’s first day differently than he would with people like Izzy, Zane, Val, Bindy or Alec- but that’s to be expected. 

Most all of the people they get starting at Oasis are highly regarded scientists, ex _(or current)_ soldiers _(government sanctioned or otherwise)_ , or specialized experts that are the top of the top of their respective fields. They have years of experience under their belts and the assertion that they were impressive enough to actually be sought out for their new positions in one of the most prominent, cutting edge companies in the world.

Simon is an overly excitable, tech-nerd college student who stumbled onto one of the most insane scientist discoveries in history. It’s understandable that he might be a BIT nervous for his first official day.

Raphael just doesn’t want to do anything to make that worse. From everything he can read from the guy he really has little doubt he’ll be able to handle this- he’s thinking the hardest part is gonna be keeping him believing that he can.

Okay so on their trek back to the Anomaly Simon had seemed pretty confident. Beyond confident. Magnus had said flat out brazen _(no wonder why he connected so quickly with the guy_ ). Guy stood up to Alec, told him he could do it, and he would prove it to everyone he had to. Said that everything in life worth having is also worth fighting for...even stood up to Raphael himself, meeting his eyes unwaveringly, flat out telling him he wasn’t going anywhere; full of conviction and determination, bright golden brown eyes sparking even brighter in challenge...which was...umm

_Hmm..._ **_damn_ ** _..._

Uh-b-but even so there’s a big difference between holding fast in your determination in grabbing onto a heat-of-the-moment, adrenaline rushing, crazy out of the blue one and a million chance and walking into the first day of your new reality in a job you never thought possible.

That is a BIG difference...could be totally overwhelming...could even possibly be enough to make someone rethink their spur of the moment decision to throw in with a mishmash of mad scientists, soldiers, mercenaries, quirky specialists and a possible supervillian.

Yeah he really doesn’t want anything throwing this off for the guy. ‘Anything’ like his new boss showing up to their first official meeting as co-workers/employer/employee whatever-you-want-to-call-it seeming like he’s ready to monologue his plans to overthrow the government, toss someone into a shark tank or unveil a death ray...

Not really the ‘welcome to the team’ vibe he wants to strike.

Really in the grand scheme of things what he wears isn’t likely gonna be the deciding factor of whether or not Simon settles in with the company or not. But he knows better than anyone just how easily one little detail could make all the difference. And yeah- the way he dresses isn’t going to make Simon run for the hills...he knows this.

However the overall feeling he sets in this first ‘official’ meeting IS likely to have an impact on how the young scientist sees him- not just professionally but in every other capacity as well. He wants to be certain he sets just the right mood with the guy.

_....and_ **_wow;_ ** _even in his head that sounded a hell of a lot more seduction-y then it was intended._

That’s not the kind of ‘mood’ he wants to set with him...I-I mean...not that he’d necessarily be opposed to it or anything- guy was whip-smart, determined, electrifying as a livewire, had a delightfully feisty streak and was cute as hell- SO not opposed to it...at all...like AT ALL at all.

But unfortunately that was pretty much a moot point. Thanks to his _(irritatingly)_ counterploting best friend Simon had been stringently warned about every possible ousting maneuver Raphael could have conceivably tried during their initial meeting- up to and including weaponized flirting.

Meaning any amount of flirting or interest shown would likely just be brushed off as a tactic, a game or some other convoluted plot of deception or just flat out obnoxiousness- Which to be fair nine times out of ten would be right on the mark...

Really does suck on the tenth time though...but oh well...he’s an adult- not like he’s never faced disappointment or an unwanted outcome.

No his quandary about his appearance today has absolutely nothing to do with any romantic ideas...it’s just practical...that’s all. With most every other new hire he barely gives it a second thought, however with Simon it’s a fair bit more complicated.

See the thing about a place like Oasis- about **_his_** company- is flat out, he hires the best. He picks the best...And the thing of it is ‘the best’ generally KNOW they are the best.

Most people on their first day coming into the company are at the top of their respective fields. They’re coming in expecting it to stay that way. Generally by the time he brings them on they’re unaccustomed to being challenged, unaccustomed to having to really answer to others, unaccustomed to the possibility that their work might be challenged.

Usually the first few weeks he spends getting them **_re-_** accustomed to that. A process he is quite skilled at. After that’s established and they have a clear awareness of their place in the company it’s only then that he begins to ease up on the game, let them in on the joke as it were.

But with Simon? Um...yeah...the first part? Not really an issue. If anything it’s gonna be the opposite. He’s coming in likely expecting to be at the absolute lowest rung of the ladder. He’s gonna expect to have to prove himself at every turn- to everybody- likely multiple times.

He’ll likely expect to have to pay his dues; thinking he’s starting out as some intern/gopher type level, that since he’s young and new he’ll get all the grunt work, tedious, boring prep/cleanup type tasks and all the crappy jobs that no one else wants to do.

Raphael has to make sure he realizes that he isn’t- that he is starting with just as much standing as any other scientist there _-_ well with the exception of Mags as he is technically the head scientist _(though even that’s probably less a ‘hierarchy’ and more some combination of nepotism and the inmates running the asylum kind of a deal)_ and let him know that if someone DOES tries to dupe him into it he is more than welcome to tell them exactly where to go with that.

He wasn’t hired as an assistant or a temp or a gopher- he is a scientist- same as all the rest. That is what he was hired for and that is how he should be treated. Raphael wants to ensure that he knows this going in and that he feels comfortable enough with him if it’s NOT the case with anyone to let him know.

_Which would probably be a hell of a lot more likely if for their first ‘official’ meeting he doesn’t dress like a cross between a mortician, Lucky Luciano and a freaking vampire._

**_Ugh..._ **

Admittedly it IS a good fit for him but sometimes it’s really not the air he needs to set.

Though at this point it’s kind of out of his hands..

He’d really prefer to change it up at least a bit today- something softer, more inviting and approachable, something with less of a _‘welcome to my parlor’_ kinda feel but unless he’s willing to actually buy something totally new it doesn’t look like it’s happening today.

And that again is drifting a fair bit away from the professional for him right now. You don’t go shopping for a new outfit for someone ELSE’S first day of work.

_That’s just ridiculous._

Besides if he couldn’t find something in the jumble of high end chaos currently covering his dressing room floor that he already picked out and bought it’s not too likely he’s just gonna stumble across the perfect look.

Especially not in the next thirty minutes...which is how long he has until he has to leave.

Fashionably late is Mags’s thing and while he is more than happy to keep various stuffed shirts and military blowhards on pins and needles waiting Simon is his first meeting of the day and he really doesn’t want to keep the guy waiting on his first day.

That’s just rude.

He has got to put this wishy-washy thing aside and get himself in gear...pick something and go with it.

_But what..._

_Hmm..._

He sighed faintly, head shaking looking over the jumbled chaos of the morning.

_Man...he has never been more relieved the room is self-cleaning. Thankfully by the time he gets back tonight the disaster area of a room will be neat as a pin._

_Doesn’t really help him now though._

The handful of suits he has that aren’t black are currently littering the floor of his room. The grey ones just seemed boring and muted in comparison to his usual sharp black, the dark green one seems too much like a military service uniform, the blue ones made him look like a pilot and the garnet one made him feel like he should be selling used cars or insurance-

Not really the feel he’s going for here.

_I mean yeah- granted- it IS less threatening, but not really in a_ **_good_ ** _way._

Intermingled with the suit explosion was a multitude of different vests, undershirts and no fewer than a dozen different dress shirts in colors ranging from a soft slate blue to a crisp white to deep violet and warm crimson all the way to some weird orange monstrosity that he’s sure Mags must have slipped in here when he wasn’t paying attention. There were even a few tee-shirts tossed into the mix for good measure.

It was a LOT of options but none of them were right for the feel he needed with the new recruit. Well...okay so the Doctor Who tee he picked up in college would probably win him a few points with Simon but seeing as one, that’d seem a bit too much like fishing and two, if he were to show up at work in a fandom tee-shirt he’d likely spend the entire day in Izzy’s lab being bombarded with mental test and brain scans he’d decided against it.

Besides even though Simon’s reaction to it might be rather interesting he knows he’d never really feel comfortable at work in something so casual. He’d feel off all day.

It just wasn’t worth it.

He sighed, looking over the meticulously organized selection of immaculate suits, crisp top quality dress shirts and well fitted, stylish vests that were NOT currently littering his floor, head tilting in consideration.

_Hmm..._

_Yup...that is a_ **_whole_ ** _lot of black._

Okay so the whole ‘mixing it up’ thing is kinda looking like a bust. The idea made sense but the reality just wasn’t holding up. He bought all of it, picked it all out _(with the exception of the orange monstrosity)_ most of the time he felt comfortable in them and he knew he looked good in all of them...but none of them felt right. They just felt off. He really didn’t want to feel ‘off’ today. He didn’t really want to wear just ‘anything’...he wanted to feel good, comfortable, confident. He wanted to feel right...his best.

_Hmm..._

His head tilted, gaze shifting from the multitude of crisp black suits over to the far corner of the room, eyes coming to rest on the crisp, blacker than black suit hanging with the strikingly bright, blood red dress shirt and sharp, perfectly fitted black with red pinstripe vest.

_Well...it was his favorite...and he definitely felt his best in it._

Usually he saved it for special occasions- like high end cocktail parties to schmooze investors...or intimidating military generals. Might raise a few questions from people if they spot him in it during what’s for all intents and purposes a normal work day.

He’s sure Mags will catch it...and Bindy...and Izzy. Probably a few others too...They probably wouldn’t say anything though. Zane probably **_would_** -he’s kinda a jackass like that-but he can always casually mention they have an opening on the team monitoring the reoccurring anomaly out on the Holstein’s poultry farm...that’d probably shut him up pretty quick.

Yeah there might be a few looks, a few questions if he wears it ‘just because’.

_Still...he does feel good in it..._

_And he most definitely LOOKS good in it._

Not that that’s really what he’s going for...but in the same vain it wouldn’t exactly hurt. And he could always make it a bit more casual- lose the jacket, roll up the sleeves, that sort of thing. Besides th-

_Oh crap! It’s five till eight, he has a fifteen minute commute and Simon’s supposed to be in his office at eight thirty sharp. He has to get a move on._

He moved across the room, carefully slipping the clean, sharp elegant suit off its hanger. He stepped into the crisp, blacker than black suit pants, slipping on the brilliant, whisper soft dress shirt, tucking it in, fastening the buttons, deciding to forgo the tie, leaving the top two buttons open for a more relaxed look.

He reached over, pulling on the vest, adjusting the fit till it was just right, smoothing it down so that it fell perfectly. Finally he added the perfectly tailored jacket, taking a bit of a deeper breath, fussing slightly with the little red pocket square before looking up, catching his reflection. He felt himself relax a bit, a little of the odd tightness he had in his stomach easing. He reached up, brushing a few glossy dark locks back into place, flashing a faint smile and a slight nod, taking another slightly deep breath, an odd, spin-y, excited little flip in his stomach, a dizzying, near giddy little buzz flickering through him, similar to the Actualizare kicking in but far more pleasant, giving him an odd, enjoyable little flutter. A bit of a soft breath of a laugh slipping out of its own accord. He huffed faintly, shaking his head slightly at himself, moving towards the door of the room with a bit more of a spring in his step.

_Okay one thing’s for sure before he gets to work he needs to get that under control...that and the smile that keeps sneaking out. Those things coupled with the suit might end up drawing a few more questions than he wants to answer._

_Eh...it’ll be fine...he has a fifteen minute commute and an entire building complex to get through. Something’s bound to annoy him between here and there. He can use that..._

_After all he’s nothing if not adaptable._

##  {*_*^*_*^*_*^*_*^*_*^*_*^*_*^*_*^}

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Kay I feel like it’s always an abrupt cut off anymore but they never seem so abrupt when the stories done so I think this works. I know we didn’t get a lot of progress- it was just Raph getting dressed and doing his version of panicking about the first ‘official’ meeting. I thought it was kind of adorable having both of them getting ready (And as a side note both Raph and Mags are totally the type to have entire rooms solely for dressing- didn’t think a simple ‘walk in closet’ would really cover it with these two)...I love the idea of Raph all nervous and kind of giddy about seeing Simon again, trying to look ‘just so’ and coming up with all these excuses for himself as to why he wants to._
> 
> _Yay another update down! I know it’s been really slow with the updates- I actually didn’t get any last week but honestly since at work we finally finished inventory I just really needed a reset weekend (well my weekend never falls anywhere near the actual weekend as my days off are always somewhere in the middle of the week but you get the idea). For anyone who has worked somewhere where you have to deal with inventory you understand for those of you who haven’t it’s basically like that annoying final exam you study and stress the entire year for. It’s a huge pain but man is it a relief when you finally make it through._
> 
> _Also to be honest I keep getting distracted by the insanity that is the political chaos we’re in (U.S. Election) I’m trying to just ignore it, cast my vote and wait but god this year’s is like a freaking soap-opera (Which sums up this entire year- I swear I’m half convinced 2020 is some freaking Sims game and the person playing is just getting REALLY bored and trying all the buttons just to ‘see what happens’ )_
> 
> _I’m hoping I can pick up the pace on the writing- I know after the election is done (and whatever ramifications and insanity comes from the outcome) It’ll be a lot easier for me to focus on writing- either because I’ll be happy and relieved or because I’ll be trying to bury myself in my imaginary worlds to distract me from reality (_ **_Really_ ** _hoping for the former obviously)_
> 
> _Anyways enough of the intrusion of real life- back to the multiverse-_
> 
> _This is the 5_ _ th _ _of the 9 stories to be updated so we’re over halfway through this set of updates..._
> 
> _Here’s the list:_
> 
> ~~ A Start Of Something New (Verse 7) ~~
> 
> ~~ The Guy/Demon In The Mirror  (Verse 4) ~~
> 
> ~~ Nosey Neighbors  (Verse 9) ~~
> 
> ~~ Love Bug (Verse 2) ~~
> 
> ~~ Picture Perfect (Verse 8) ~~
> 
> You Can’t Go Home Again (Verse 1)
> 
> A Study In Chaos (Verse 6)
> 
> This Is Why You Don’t Wander Away From The Group (Verse 5)
> 
> Death Was Just The Beginning (Verse 3)
> 
> _Next up is V1 You Can Go Home Again. I’m hoping to do an update tomorrow but...well...you all know how that goes._
> 
> _Anyways what do you think so far?_


	3. First Date...I-I mean Day...

## {*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^}

##  *-Simon-*-Simon-*-Simon-*-Simon-*-Simon-*

## {*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^}

_Hmm...made it through the gate with no issue...well no real issues in any case._

He’s past the front desk, sitting in the lobby. Well...setting, fidgeting and spinning, tapping out a nervous rhythm on the arm as his leg bounces erratically- half in excitement half in worry there’s gonna be some setback and he’s just gonna be escorted right back out...same difference.

_Kinda to be expected...still, so far so good._

Got a few somewhat odd looks from the kinda rough looking security guards at the front desk- a set of very large, **_very_** intimidating twins...well he thinks they were twins. This **_is_** Oasis after all- anything’s possible; twins, clones, super realistic holograms, cybernetic roboguards; really the possibilities are endless...though most of those would be like _super_ illegal so probably not.

On the other hand he kinda gets the feeling the whole time travel thing would ALSO be pretty illegal if anyone actually believed in it...so...uh...yeah. Hopefully it’s just twins. That’s the most sane/law abiding answer.

Yeah...h-he’s going with twins...he knows Oasis is advanced but that’d be a bit of a leap...he thinks. Though gotta admit having access to time travel, an entire roster of highly trained military personal and beyond cutting edge scientists and inventors all led by a very fashionable but totally bat crap crazy mad scientist and near certain supervillian DOES kinda makes him wonder.

_N-no...no it doesn’t. They_ ’ _re twins...totally. Just twins...hopefully._

_Really h-_

“Simon Lewis?”

Simon startles out of his spiraling thoughts, jumping out of the seat too fast, taking a few clumsy steps to keep himself from getting tangled in his own feet and ending up flat on the floor. He managed to right himself, reaching up on instinct, balancing Becks so he’s not thrown off from the stumble, casting a quick, sheepishly apologetic look over at the little tredectipod.

“Sorry Becks.”

He glared, giving a series of agitated dolphin like clicks and squeaks. Simon sighed, holding his free hand up in an apologetic gesture.

“Yeah I know- again sorry. You know how jumpy I can get when I start spinning...and at least this time you didn’t fall off...right?”

Becks huffed faintly, ocular sensor rolling, a couple of the front appendages flickering a bit before giving a little half shrug and nod, one feeler shifting up, lightly patting Simon’s head, a couple little beeps emitting. Simon chuckled slightly, flashing a warm grin at the obnoxiously endearing little contraption.

“Well thanks...I appreciate the vote of confidence. Good to know you believe in me.”

Becks shrugged, a little series of beeps and squeaks emanating, giving a little ‘eh’ wave with one feeler before gesturing towards themselves, setting up a bit straighter.

Simon snorted, shaking his head disbelievingly at the snarky arrogance, reaching up, lightly nudging him.

“Hey now- **_I’m_** the one who got the job. You’re like my mascot.”

Becks very distinctively scoffed, ocular sensor widening, shaking his head, a quick, rapid fire stream of squeaks, beeps and boops emitting, giving a little wave, gesturing towards Simon.

Simon laughed, shaking his head animatedly.

“ _Oh I am_ ** _NOT_** _the mascot! And a-”_

“Ahem...”

Simon and Becks both startle, freezing in place before turning their collective gaze from each other to their- apparently very amused- audience. A young woamn in a chic, stylish deep violet pants suit paired with a light green blouse and smart black heels about Simon’s age was leaning against the wall beside a deep red door, a smirk tugging at her lips, eyebrow quirking in amusement and curiosity.

The woman was quite pretty with wide, oddly bright, deep brown eyes, a rich golden skintone, and jet black hair pulled up into a high, tight ponytail accentuating her sharply pretty, exotic features.

Simon swallowed, blushing faintly, awkwardly raising his hand, giving a sheepish wave, a gesture mirrored near perfectly by Becks on his shoulder.

“Umm...h-hey...”

The woman’s oddly bright, deep eyes sparkled in amusement, smirk picking up a tic, chuckling softly, raising her hand, giving a fluttering little wave right back.

“Hi.”

Simon flushed brighter, shifting, nervously reaching up, tucking a few errant Light brown curls behind his ear, glancing over again at Becks, gesturing.

“Uh so...this um...t-”

The woman chuckled again, pushing off the wall, giving a dismissive little wave, flashing a bright smile.

“Relax Mags, Bindy and Alec already mentioned the robo-dramatics, you’re fine.” She paused just in front of Simon.

“Simon Lewis, lovely to meet you. I’m Raphael’s assistant Divya Nadim- Divya’s fine. We tend not to stand on formality here. Titles just gum up the works- plus they’re long and complicated and quite frankly you really don’t have time to deal with runaway egos when you’re dealing with runaway extinct beasts, time travel-and travelers, military contracts, and an entire facility filled to the brim with mad scientists just barely kept on the rails.

Welcome by the way.” She chuckled, flashing an overly exaggeratedly bright smile, extending her hand.

Simon gave a surprised laugh, reaching forward. Divya’s smile shifted to something less teasing, more genuinely friendly, taking his hand in an unexpectedly strong handshake, squeezing tightly before pulling away, gaze shifting from Simon over to Becks on his shoulder, head tilting, gaze shifting over the little tredectipod in curiosity and interest.

“And you must be Becks. Lovely to meet you as well.”

Becks perked up, color shifting to a cheery, sunny yellow, giving a happy chattery sound, raising one feeler waving near shyly. Divya chuckled, expression warming all the more, lifting her hand, gingerly holding a finger out. Beck reached forward, tendril wrapping around, giving a bit of a hand shake. Divya grinned, eyes sparking brighter with a clearly impressed, curious light.

“Mags told me all about you, I’ve been really looking forward to meeting you Becks. Welcome to the team, I’m sure you’re gonna love it here.”

Becks trilled happily, puffing up, multiple front tendrils waving animatedly gesturing around at the building and to her, emitting an excited series of squeaks, boops and clicks before pausing, realizing she couldn’t understand him. He glanced over at Simon, nudging him, gesturing impatiently towards Divya, clearly wanting him to translate. Simon laughed, rolling his eyes affectionately, tilting his head towards Becks, grinning.

“He says it’s nice to meet you- he’s really excited to be on the team as well and he knows he’ll love it here. He also said he really likes your suit. It’s his favorite color.”

Divya chuckled, smile tugging up a bit more, glancing from Becks over to Simon than back.

“Well I am glad to hear that, and thank you...I actually knew it was your favorite color. Mags told me, glad you like it. Both he and Alec mentioned what exceptional fashion sense you had...kinda wanted to make a good impression.” She grinned, leaning forward conspiratorially.

“Besides I’m good leaving Alec as the only fashionably mockable one.”

Becks gave a bright, musical little trill, tendrils fluttering, nodding eagerly before pausing. His head tilted, a series of dolphin like clicks emitting, giving a little shrug, rolling his ocular sensor, very obviously gesturing over to Simon, before again **_very_** obviously rolling his ocular sensor in exaggerated exasperation.

**_“Hey!”_** Simon exclaimed, casting an annoyed glance over at the obnoxiously critical little brat.

Divya snickered, bright, deep eyes sparkling in amusement.

“Umm...yeah that one pretty sure I got.”

Simon huffed, shaking his head, cheeks flushing lightly, giving a put upon, slightly pleadingly hopeful look.

“Can you maybe at least _pretend_ you didn’t?”

Divya gave a warm, delighted laugh, a brilliant, near infectious grin blooming, nodding, flashing a playful wink and a little thumbs up.

“Sure thing Cutie.”

Simon flushed brighter at the little endearment or whatever it was, sheepishly smiling, nodding back, reaching up, tucking a few wayward Light brown curls back behind his ear.

“Umm...t-thanks...”

Divya chuckled softly, moving over next to him, slipping her arm around his shoulders, careful not to disrupt Becks perch, turning, leading him over towards the door.

“No problem cutie. Now come on, let’s get you in the system so we can get started.”

Simon blushed brighter, feeling his ears warm knowing the bright pink was creeping up even higher, stumbling to keep up with her graceful stride. They stopped just in front of the door. Divya moved her arm from around Simon’s shoulders, shifting over a bit, reaching up, pressing her hand to a nearly invisible pad along the side of the door. Above the panel a small area shimmered, shifting in an odd, near dizzying way, two illuminated circles appearing along the wall, a little blue-green circle and a glowing red one just above it. Divya leaned in, turning her head faintly, looking directly into the blue light. A brilliant blue-green beam emitted, flickering over her eye. The red light above it glowed bright, color shifting from red to a brilliant, glimmering green.

Simon startled at what sounded an awful lot like an airlock unlocking, the door swinging open without so much as a sound. Simon begin to step forward but Divya reached over, catching his arm, pulling him back. She reached forward, catching the door, pulling it back closed, the airlock sounding yet again. Simon glanced over curiously, Divya smiled, nodding towards the panel.

“Like I said, we need to get you in the system, I wanted you to see how to do it so when we’re done you know how to unlock it. Just a sec.”

She again put her hand on the pressure pad, pressing and holding for a few seconds until the light above it flickered, shifting from blue to violet. She pulled his hand back, the panel shifting again, turning over, revealing a complicated keypad filled with odd, totally unfamiliar looking symbols that Simon couldn’t even begin to process. He couldn’t help leaning forward in interest to get a better look.

Divya glanced over, smirking faintly before turning her attention back to the panel. She reached up, fingers flying over the pad, putting in a complicated mess of a pattern or code or something. The light flashed again, this time it kept flashing, the panel turned over again to the smooth looking pad, this time the entire pad glowed an odd, ethereal blue-green the same exact shade and intensity as the light.

Divya smiled, glancing again over at Simon, waving him a bit closer, nodding towards the panel.

“Kay it’s all ready, press your palm flat against the pressure pad then lean in and look directly into the blue-green light and stay perfectly still. It’s gonna impute your palm print and retina scan and set up your credentials. This way you’ll be able to move about the building freely and unlock the doors. It’s a bit easier if you don’t need an escort everywhere.

It only takes about fifteen to twenty seconds for it to finish imputing your credentials but it seems longer when you’re just waiting, trying not to move or blink.

It’s best if you do a countdown or list or something in your head to keep your focus...seems to help. I know some people try to go through the table of elements or the alphabet backwards or something like that. Think Mags went through a list of his top fifty Divas of all time. Just anything that’ll keep you focused and relatively calm for about half a minute.

It’s best if you have what you’re gonna focus on figured out before you start so you don’t end up blanking during the scan. Once you figure out what you’re gonna focus on we can begin.

When you’re ready just step forward, press your palm flat against the pad and look straight ahead, focusing on the colored light. The light will shift from the blue-green to a deeper blue, violet, hot pink, bright orange, yellow, and lime green before shifting again to the original blue-green. Once it is completed it will make a little chime letting you know.

Got it?”

Simon swallowed, glancing over the pad then back at her, giving a slight nod.

“I-I think so...though out of curiosity- and considering my own nervous energy- what happens if I **_do_** move or blink or whatever?”

She shrugged dismissively.

“It’ll trigger a security breach and instantly vaporize you.”

Simon startled, blinking, taking a hesitant step back, eyes widening.

“U-umm...y-you know I actually don’t really mind having to have an escort around. Might be good. I-I get lost easy and I am pretty clumsy...probably for the best if I’m not left unsupervised I m-”

Divya laughed brightly, shaking her head, flashing a warm, teasing smile.

“Oh my god you are **_so_** adorable- but way too easy. We gotta work on that, you’ll be a setting duck otherwise with this group.” She reached up, resting her hand on Simon’s shoulder, squeezing.

“Relax I was just messing with you. All that’d happen if you move is it screws up the process and we have to start again. We kind of have a lot to do today, just the tour alone is gonna take a while and things tend to crop up fast here without a lot of warning and we need to be ready. Really don’t have the time for all the setbacks.” She paused, glancing over, shrugging impishly.

“Unless I was telling the truth the first time and just don’t want to scare you off...”

Simon huffed, shaking his head, gesturing towards her.

“Okay I have no clue which of those to believe. They both sound totally plausible and you said both as naturally as breathing...how am I supposed to know which is the truth?”

Divya shrugged, flashing an innocent smile.

“You’re not...I’m head of PR here- Ninety percent of my job is basically lying convincingly...and I’m very good at my job.”

Simon snorted, disbelievingly shaking his head.

“I’ll say...” he muttered, glancing over the woman, only like seventy-five percent sure she’s just screwing with him about the whole vaporizing thing.

He took a deep breath, gaze shifting from Divya over to the panel by the door, scrutinizing gaze shifting over the pad and light, looking for any indicators of some hidden death ray or whatever but finding none. Although as it’s a highly classified, highly advanced tech company packed full of mad scientists and led by what seems a hell of a lot like a supervillian that’s not in any way surprising...

“So, ready?” Divya asked in an irritatingly chipper tone.

Simon swallowed, glancing over at Becks, brow quirking questioningly. Becks blinked, ocular sensor wide, shifting from Simon over to Divya and back to the door before again settling back on Simon, shrugging, gesturing over to Divya, giving a few dolphin like clicks and boops. Simon huffed out a faint half laugh.

“Oh you just think that because you like her style and she complimented you.” He shook his head again, gaze shifting from Becks back over to Divya.

Divya met his gaze, head tilting questioningly.

“Well?”

Simon hesitated a moment, gaze again shifting over to the door before slipping back over to Divya, beginning to shrug before stopping himself, giving a slow, kind of hesitant nod and a slightly flaily little wave.

“Sure...what the hell. Pretty sure you guys didn’t go through all that paperwork and hiring drama just to vaporize me for fidgeting.”

Divya beamed, nodding back, waving him forward.

“That’s the spirit! And you got what you’re gonna focus on figured out?”

Simon huffed out a bit of a laugh, nodding again. Divya grinned, beckoning his forward, stepping out of his way. Simon swallowed, moving over to the panel, taking a couple deep breaths to settle the butterflies in his stomach, blinking rapidly a few time to get any nervous blinking out of the way just in case. He shifted forward, slowly reaching up, pressing his hand flat against the pad, hesitantly leaning in like Divya had, focusing on the blue-green light as the colors began to shift softly, mentally listing all his favorite Cryptids:

Jersey Devil... Bigfoot... Ogopogo... Nessie... Mothman... Bunyip... Champ... Chupacabra... Almas... Beast Of Bray Road... Ozark Howler... Yeti... Thunderbird... Kraken... Mngwa... Lizard Man... Lemis-

Simon startles at a little musical tone. He pulls his hand away from the pad, blinking a couple times, feeling a little fuzzy headed and wooly. He swallows, glancing over, catching Divya’s eye, head tilting in confusion.

“There you go- all set.” Divya chimed, reaching up, squeezing his shoulder, flashing a bright smile.

“Not so bad right?”

Simon gave a bit of an unsure smile back, shaking his head.

“No, though I do kinda feel a little fuzzy.”

Divya nodded.

“Yeah...that would be the after effects of the cerebral mapping, electromagnetic plotting and synapsis charting. Kinda gives a bit of a spacy feeling. That’s actually why you’re instructed to make a list or countdown in your head, it helps it map faster.

Don’t worry it’ll pass soon.”

Simon startled, blinking.

“T-that wha- I thought you said it was just doing a palm and retina scan?”

She shrugged, giving a bit of a wave.

“Well technically what I said was it was preparing your credentials. The palm print and retina scan are part of that but that’s just the most basic surface layer of the security. Those systems are everywhere. Everyone knows about them and far too many people know ways around them.

Custom contacts, 3d printed gloves and you’re in. This system registers basically everything that make you you. Neural firings, synapsis, electromagnetic microtransmissions and over a thousand other minute, unique data points...This completely insures that the only person who can use your credentials is you.

Even if someone somehow can perfectly mimic your prints and retina map if everything else doesn’t match the person will be instantly immobilized and neutralized- unharmed just rendered unconscious and thoroughly scanned. By the time security gets to them they will have a compilation of every last bit of digital information of the person, their path through the facility, along with any other pertinent information...oh it also activates the Rosetta chip that was implanted during the company physical.”

Simon gave a low whistle, shaking his head.

“Woah you guys take security really s-wait...” He froze, the end of his sentence catching up, holding up a finger, eyes widening.

“T-the what now?”

Divya gave a deceptively casual shrug, nodding.

“The Rosetta chip. It-”

“W-wait...you _chipped_ me?”

He sighed, head tilting.

“ ** _I_** didn’t our medical office-”

**_“_** ** _Izzy_** ** _chipped me!?_** But she seemed so nice!”

“She is sh-”

“Dude! How do you chip someone without telling them-”

“It was covered in the paperwork.”

**_“No it wasn’t_ ** **_!_ ** **_”_ **

“Paragraph five, section 2E page 124, sub section EF12: obligatory essential subdermal cranial scion linguistic converter.”

Simon blinked rapidly.

“T-tha-wha... ** _what does that even mean!?”_**

She sighed, holding up her hands placatingly.

“Simon calm-”

**_“Don_** ’ ** _t tell me to calm down!_** You just told me you chipped me! You can’t chip someone and just expect them to calm down just because you told them to...unless that’s what the chip is for. Which if it is it’s SO not working. Oh and FYI- telling someone to calm down has never- _ever_ actually calmed them down- it just pisses them off more.”

Divya huffed out a faint laugh, eyebrow quirking.

“Yes- I am a woman- well aware.”

Simon couldn’t help a surprised laugh slipping out before catching himself, glaring.

“Hey don’t make me laugh- this is **_really_** messed up.”

Divya gave a slightly apologetic look, nodding, again holding her hands up.

“I understand.”

“Dude t-”

“Just like ‘calm down’ I know. I know that seems like a glib, placating, meaningless response but it’s really not. I **_do_** understand that it’s upsetting but the chip really is essential. You cannot work his without it- and I know what you’re thinking but I swear it’s nothing like that.

The chip is a universal translator. It converts any human language you hear or read into your preferred first language. Every language-even extinct dialects and totally dead languages. I know at first glance that doesn’t seem like it’d be important enough to warrant the subterfuge but it is.

Working here not only do we have hires from all over the world with over two dozen different preferred first languages working on highly technical- at times very volatile- projects that the slightest miscommunication could be catastrophic but we encounter travelers from the entirety of human history and beyond. We have no idea who or what we are going to encounter on a daily bases but being able to communicate smoothly and clearly, without the worry of misinterpretation can be the difference between life and death.

It really can...has been...quite a few times in fact.

I genuinely do apologize for the sneakiness of it but the chip itself is classified. It is completely safe, thoroughly tested and vetted and actually has been in use by us for over a decade and a handful of military and espionage agencies for nearly four years but other than that the only people who know about it are the people here. And as it is technically classified as a military contract- though it was never _intended_ to be- we’re barred from divulging the specifics of it to anyone who is not officially an Oasis employee.

And thanks to the legal oroboros that is the companies legal definitions, technicalities and mindboggling eccentricities you’re only considered an official Oasis employee when you’re in the security system and fully capable of fulfilling your duties...which can’t be done until you have the chip...which...”

Simon sighed, waving.

“Means you can’t tell people about the chip until they actually have the chip.”

Divya huffed, rolling her eyes, nodding.

“Exactly. I know how crappy it seems. Believe me; I know.

It didn’t used to be this way. We had the chip from the very start of the company- had it over half a decade and were totally upfront about it- explained the whole thing plainly and honestly to new hires beforehand- never any issue.

Then one idiot tanks his presentation for a government contract, panics and offers the Rosetta chip up in its place. Now we have to do this whole bait and switch, deception crap just because one idiot couldn’t come through on a stupid little sonic disturbance ray.

_Amateur_...I mean honestly, who can’t tell the difference between subsonic and ionic?”

Simon blinked, giving a slight nod at the expecting look.

“Um...Ironic.”

Divya blinked back before shaking her head, chuckling, meeting Simon’s eyes, flashing another apologetically hopeful smile.

“Cute...so...no hard feelings?”

Simon sighed, giving a bit of an unsure shrug.

“I don’t think so...at least I’ll try not to have any. I get it. Still seems really messed up but if your hands are tied your hands are tied.”

Divya nodded.

“And they really are here. _Annoyingly_ so. Trust me we have went at this from every angle trying to find a better way but unless we want to blatantly go against a direct government order we can’t. We’re all for bending the rules, finding ways to twist them and make them work to our needs but we generally try to stay on the right side of the government. Raph has enough of a Supervillain vibe as it is, probably best not to add any more fuel to that fire.

At least it won’t be like this for too much longer- the government contract exclusivity ends in less than two years, at that time can market it to the public- albeit a less advanced version...similar to the one we gave the military. Then we can dispense with the stupidity. Unfortunately until then this is the best we can do. If it helps the whole random blindsiding surprise chipping is most likely gonna be the worst part of the day. It should all be downhill from here.

And I promise once you get past the well- for lack of a better word- invasiveness of it the chip really is pretty freaking amazing. Honestly it’s one of the best benefits of working here.”

Simon shrugged faintly, giving a slight nod, reaching up, tucking a few Light brown curls behind his ear.

“Yeah, I guess I could see that. Sounds like it would be. So how long does it take to start working?”

“It already is.”

Simon blinked in confusion, head tilting.

“Huh?”

Divya smirked, eyebrow quirking, deep eyes sparkling brightly.

“Did you notice since we did the scan a bit of an accent here or there when I was talking? Kinda seemed to shift? Nothing super distinct just enough that you could pick it up?”

Simon shrugged.

“I-well...yeah...a bit...kinda, I wasn’t really paying attention to it cause I was kinda pissed but...yeah...I noticed. Why, what about it?”

She chuckled, smirking brighter.

“In the last thirty minutes I’ve cycled through seven different languages: French, Italian, Hindi, Russian, Mandarin, Cherokee and an extinct precursor to Croatian...you’ve understood every word...even replied in a few of them.”

Simon again froze, blinking rapidly. He slowly shook his head.

“W-wha-no...no you didn’t...I didn’t. I don’t speak any of those. I’m horrible with other languages. Like the worst. My friends won’t even let me order of we go for anything more international than Taco Bell. The Thai place across the street from my school literally added pictures to their menu so I could just point. I took a full semester of French in high school and all I learned how to say is ‘I don’t speak French’ and ‘Nerd’...that’s it.”

Divya grinned, shaking his head.

“Not anymore.”

Simon shook his head again, flailing a bit.

“I what? No...Uh uh...you’re pulling my leg...you have to be...there’s no way it works that good, that quick.”

She laughed, giving a bit of a wave.

“I’m not. If don’t believe me ask Becks... actually? Even if you do believe me maybe talk to him. Poor little guy looks very confused right now.”

Simon blinked, glancing over at Becks, gesturing towards her.

“Is that true?”

Becks bounced lightly on his shoulder, feelers flailing in a very Simon-esque way, a series of frantic beeps, boops, clicks and trills sounding, erratically gesturing between Simon and Divya and then back. Simon again blinked in surprise.

“Really? I was?”

Becks nodded animatedly squeaking and flailing. Simon’s eyes widened, shaking his head faintly, looking from the clearly rattled little tredectipod back over to Divya, swallowing, gesturing at Becks.

“Umm...o-okay...so he said I’ve been speaking other languages...apparently perfectly. He kinda was starting to think there was some kind of mind swap going on there as two of the languages aren’t in his servers so...um...yeah...it works...cool.

Umm...I-Is there a way I can keep from slipping into other languages cause uh...that might raise a few questions.”

Divya chuckled, nodding, waving him off.

“Of course. It’s fairly simple, there’s a whole section in the employee welcome datapac. It should be in your company mail- which you’ll now be able to log into from your lab, t-”

Simon startled.

“Wait, my what?”

Divya smirked, head tilting, eyebrow raising pointedly.

“Your lab. You were hired as a scientist- all the scientists here have their own labs. It works best, this way you have plenty of room to work on your own projects as well as those assigned to you- same as any other scientist here.

Though fair warning if anything you’re working on has the potential of being a security risk, threat or requires controlled materials or runs counter to the autonomous artificial intelligence baseline or any other legally sticky, not-totally-permitted science/tech restrictions there is some pretty extensive paper work you need to fill out and submit and the project will subject to more supervisory assessments and require a fair bit more updates than the standard.

Again it’s all outlined in the datapac.” She paused, glancing over at Becks.

“Technically Internal communications aren’t permitted to leave the building but I’ll be sure to send another copy of the datapac to Becks so he’ll know the rules and limitations as well seeing as for all intents and purposes he’s a new hire as well...also this way he can go through it and read every bit so both of you know we’re being transparent from here on out.” She flashed a little smile at Becks before shifting again over to Simon, giving a faint shrug.

“I really am sorry for misleading you- both on the Rosetta chip and the extensive security scan. I’d say it wasn’t intentional but that’s be a lie.”

Simon snorted, eyebrow quirking.

“Well...if anything at least you’re honest about this...I think...It’s really hard to tell with you.”

Divya chuckled, flashing a playfully teasing wink.

“Again kinda my job...which I am very good at.”

Simon gave a disbelieving little laugh, nodding like a bobblehead before glancing back over at the door, nerves slipping away, being replaced by eagerness at the prospect of his own lab and his own projects, gesturing towards the panel.

“Um...so...I’m in now? I’m good?”

Divya grinned.

“Yup, all set- no escaping now. You’re one of us.”

Simon snorted, brow quirking.

“That supposed to sound so ominous?”

Divya smirked, shrugging.

“Maybe...so ready to give it a try?”

Simon nodded eagerly, moving forward, again pressing his hand to the pad, looking into the light. It flickers over his eye before flashing green, the airlock sound emanating again, door swinging open.

“Woah, awesome!” Simon exclaimed, bouncing lightly unable to stop a bright excited grin.

_Dude he was in...like IN in...He’s a real, like Oasis employee. He has credentials and a translator chip and his very own lab!_

_This is j-_

“Umm...Simon? Coming?”

He startled, snapping out of it, hurrying to catch up to Divya already a quarter way down the hall, coming to a near skidding stop next to her, reaching up on instinct, stabilizing Becks, turning to face Divya with a bright, near giddy smile, near bouncing on his heels.

Divya chuckled, smiling brightly, slipping her arm around his shoulders, the duo continuing down the hallway. Divya squeezed his shoulder, leaning into him for just a moment, another little laugh slipping out.

“Oh my god you are so cute...really happy to have you on the team.”

Simon flushed, glancing over kinda nervously, a nervous little laugh slipping out.

_Oookay that was like the fourth time she’s said that...it was sweet and objectively Divya was really attractive but quite frankly the girl kinda scared him._

She seemed very interesting and he’d really like to have her as a friend _(if anything because he has the feeling it’s much safer on the girls good side)_ but he really didn’t want anything beyond that. He should probably be upfront about it. The last thing he’d want to do is lead her on...pretty sure that’d kinda fly in the face of the whole ‘stay on her good side’ thing.

Simon shifted away a bit, glancing over, reaching up awkwardly scratching at the back of his neck.

“Uh...Thanks. H-hey Divya...umm...no offense but I’m n-I mean you’re really pretty and clearly smart and kind of weirdly attractively intimidating which I guess is a thing but I’m just not real-“”

_And again with the laugher._

This one wasn’t even the mildly amused chuckle, Divya full on giggled, shaking her head, waving him off.

“Oh cutie no...stop panicking. When I said ‘cute’ I meant like a puppy. Most definitely not in any kind of a romantic type way...SO not my thing- and that’s not a you thing it’s most definitely a me thing. I’m ace, Aro and just so completely **_not_** interested in any of that mess.” She paused, humor falling a bit, glancing over, eyebrow quirking in unmistakable challenge.

“You don’t have an issue with that...do you?”

Simon startled, head shaking quickly.

“No ma’am.”

Divya’s brow rose a tic more.

“Ma’am?”

“Umm...sir?”

_How did the brow even go that high? Seems like that should pull something._

Simon did a half shrug, half flail, animatedly waving, cheeks heating up.

“What? What’s with the look? You are **_weirdly_** intimidating and I’m trying to be respectful and answer properly and again no issue- but seriously I don’t know what to call you! Ms. Seems like it wouldn’t fit, Dude seems WAY too informal and Miss seems like it’d get even more of a judgey eyebrow raise than sir...I don’t know what to call you.”

“Again we can just stick with Divya.” She chuckled, oddly bright, deep eyes sparkling bright, shaking her head continuing to the end of the hallway, Simon hesitantly trailing along in no way less confused, the pair reaching the end of the hallway, coming to a stop.

Divya turning gracefully, giving a dramatic, fluttering wave towards the large, ornate wooden door just in front of them.

“And continuing with the ‘weirdly intimidating’ theme here’s Raph’s office.”

Simon couldn’t help a laugh, shaking his head, glancing at the door, before shifting back to his.

“Almost like you planned that.”

Divya smirked impishly, head tilting.

“Who says I didn’t?”

“Okay NOW you’re screwing with me.”

“Am I?”

Simon snorted, rolling his eyes, giving a sarcastic look.

“Yes...you’d have to be. Either you’re screwing with me or you’re some kind of robot.”

Divya smirked, brow again quirking, shrugging dismissively.

“Well this IS Oasis...anything’s possible.”

Simon blinked, a little flicker of doubt flitting through his mind, thinking back to his impression of the Guard Twins from the front desk before catching the little amused smile tugging at Divya’s lips. He huffed exasperatedly, again rolling his eyes, catching a squeaking little dolphin like laugh from Becks on his shoulder. His head whipped around, glaring at the little brat.

“Yeah remember this next time you’re down for maintenance...I still have the Yoda ears you know...”

Becks startled, the sound cutting off abruptly. Divya chuckled, shaking her head, giving a slight wave.

“Hey now, don’t threaten the poor little guy, it’s not his fault you’re so gullible. And Becks I’m sure you totally made the Yoda ears work. That takes a lot of style- very few can pull something like that off. You’re gonna fit in perfectly here...well work on Simon.” She finished, smiling at Becks, flashing a little wink.

Becks perked up, giving a chipper little string of chatter, setting up a bit straighter, nodding, shifting to a bright, cheery yellow, tendrils fluttering and flailing, gesturing to Divya and her suit, waving animatedly, shifting projecting a little 3d hologram of Magnus from their first meeting, pointing towards his shoes and the jewelry and the stylish purple jeans.

Divya giggled, nodding eagerly, pointing.

“Oh absolutely- Mags would love to help. He lives for Fashion Emergencies- they’re his specialty...it’ll be a group effort.”

Becks ocular sensor brightened, an eager little trill escaping, partially bouncing in place. Simon rolled his eyes affectionately, groaning, shaking his head, unable to stop a chuckle from slipping out, reaching up, covering his eyes.

“Oh my god...maybe I **_am_** the mascot here...” He muttered.

Divya laughed, smirking, reaching up, patting his cheek.

“Definitely cute enough to be.”

Simon huffed, heatlessly glaring, giving a thoroughly unimpressed look. Divya just laughed more.

“That does not help with the cuteness.”

Simon waved her off, feeling his cheeks heat up, reaching up tucking a few wayward Light brown curls behind his ear.

“Yeah, yeah, can we just get on with this...or at least past my robot plotting with my new coworkers or him fawning over said new coworkers respective fashion senses.

Can we move onto the next part of the tour?”

Divya smirked, brow raising yet again.

“The next part is meeting Raph.”

Simon sighed, rolling not only his eyes but his whole head.

“So that’s a no...”

Divya snorted, patting his shoulder not-at-all-sympathetically, reaching over, resting her hand on the knob.

“Yup...sorry cutie.” She chuckled once more, turning the knob, pushing the door open, slipping inside, holding it for Simon.

Simon sighed, taking a deep breath, moving into the room, momentarily thrown, realizing it wasn’t nearly as dark and foreboding as it was the last time before noticing exactly why. The window at the front of the office wasn’t opaque this time, it was crystal clear. On his shoulder Becks made a high whistle sound, he could feel him freeze, leaning forward, Simon gave a breathless little laugh, nodding.

“I know...” he mumbled, moving across the room, gaze fixated on the view.

He slipped through the office and around the chairs and desk, moving closer till he was less than a foot from the glass, gaze shifting over the amazing fantasy park come to life down below. He swallowed, blinking, leaning in a bit more, reaching up, lightly pressing his hand against the glasslike material. Becks shifted even closer, reaching up pressing multiple tendrils against the surface, blinking in astonishment, seemingly freezing before lightly bouncing on his shoulder, reaching over with two tendrils, nudging Simon before gesturing through the window, a bright, excited trail of trilling, booping, squeaks emitting.

Simon chuckled, glancing over, nodding, before shifting his gaze again back to the window.

“I know Becks...I see it too. I saw it before, remember. See? This is what I meant when I said I couldn’t really explain it. How would you even begin to explain **_this?”_**

Becks chirped excitedly, nodding before shifting yet again back to the view, the low whistle sounding once more. Simon couldn’t help a slightly giddy near giggle, nodding back, a radiant, completely amazed, grin blooming.

“I know! I mean it’s just, totally, completely, absolutely -”

“Breathtaking.”

Simon startled at the voice mere inches from his ear, popping up, moving back away from the window, whirling to face the voice, eyes landing on the speaker. Simon felt his breath catch, mind screeching to a stop, mouth going dry, eyes widening.

_Oh...wow..._

From his shoulder Simon distantly registered the same low whistle from the view...this one was not directed at the view, but something no less stunning.

_Again..._

**_Wow._ **

Raphael is standing next to his, less than a foot away and oh man he thought he’d been somehow romanticizing or exaggerating just how gorgeous the man was.

_If anything he downplayed it._

**_Geez..._ **

He looks even better than he did the first day. Deep, glimmering near black hair immaculate, looking somehow both perfectly styled and distractingly soft, perfectly accentuating his gorgeously sharp, stunning features. His dizzyingly dark eyes glitter bright and mesmerizing.

He’s dressed somehow both even better and slightly more casual today wearing a flawlessly fitted black vest with very subtle red pin striping, perfectly brought out by the rich, brilliant red shirt underneath. The top two buttons on the shirt are unbuttoned and the sleeves are rolled up, both giving the outfit a more casual air and distractingly accentuating very nice arms and shoulders.

Simon gulped, blinking rapidly, reaching up, nervously tucking a few Light brown curls behind his ear, feeling kind of lightheaded and near tipsy. Simon felt his cheeks heat up, the flush creeping up clear to his ears but unable to do much about it except give a shy, nervous little laugh and an awkward little wave.

“Um...H-hi Raphael.”

Raphael smirked, pretty, dizzyingly dark eyes flickering over Simon, shifting closer.

“Hello Simon.”

Simon flushed even brighter, shaking his head, reaching up, again fussing with his curls.

“Oh uh...H-hey...”

Raphael’s head tilted, perfectly sculpted brow quirking, those pretty eyes again flickering over Simon, a fair bit slower this time, shrugging.

“Hey...”

Simon couldn’t help a painfully embarrassing giggle slipping out before his eyes widen, freezing, glancing away, reaching up, covering his face which at this point feels like it’s on fire, wondering if he was just gonna spontaneously combust from embarrassment.

_Oh my god...he did not just giggle like a freaking school_ _girl_ _just because his stupidly-unfairly-mind-numbingly attractive boss said freaking hello._

_Damnit that is j-_

He’s startled out of his self-beratement by a somewhat loud, very distinct whistle from his shoulder. And again Simon froze...

This time so did Raphael and Divya before collectively raising eyebrows in eerily perfect sync.

It’d be creepy if Simon wasn’t busy freaking out.

_Oh good lord..._ _His_ _robosquid just freaking_ **_wolf whistled_ ** _at_ _his_ _boss! Oh god...can_ _he_ _get to the whole spontaneous combustion thing...please?_

_It’s gotta be less painful than this..._

Simon flailed, head whipping around, glaring.

“Becks! What the hell? Don’t do that! Never do that- it is rude and obnoxious a-and just like SO not cool. _How do you even know that sound?!_ What have you been watching? I swear when we get home I’m uploading every documentary, film and lecture on proper workplace conduct.” Simon sent another censoring glare at Becks, gaze shifting from him to his (hopefully still) new boss, holding his hands up placatingly.

“I- Oh my god, du-er Mr. Valero I am so, so, so, SO sorry. He doesn’t do that- he never does that, and I swear he’ll never do it again. I promise. He is SO not like this. I think you just caught him off guard- Oh! -not that I’m saying it was your fault o-”

Raphael chuckled softly, moving closer, reaching over, lightly resting his hand on Simon’s arm, giving a dismissive little wave with his other hand and a surprisingly warm, reassuring smile.

“Simon, it’s fine...breathe- I’m pretty sure I can hear your heartbeat from here. And again Raphael’s quite alright...or Raph if you are so inclined...it’s what those closest to me usually go with...” He squeezed Simon’s arm again before slowly trailing down his arm, thumb lightly brushing against Simon’s pulse point, causing his breath to catch, heart doing a little flip.

Those pretty, deep eyes flicker down to his arm before shifting very slowly back up, again catching Simon’s eyes, head tilting, shifting forward a little more, thumb idly stroking against his wrist. His head tilted the other way, the deep, penetrating gaze making Simon feel breathless and weak-kneed.

“Your pulse is really racing Simon.”

_Gee wonder why_ _Simon_ _thought..._

**_Thought_ ** _...not said...for once..._

Simon gulped, shifting forward minutely before catching himself, startling, pulling back- and subtly pulling his wrist away from Raphael- reaching up, brushing his hair back, giving a nervous, slightly too high half laugh.

“W-well yeah- apparently that’s what happens when your totally beloved usually much more well behaved robosquid’s first impression on your new boss is a freaking _wolf whistle._

A-again sorry...I swear he won’t do it again, and he’ll apologize-” He paused, glancing over at Becks, nodding towards the other man.

_“Apologize to him.”_

Becks startled, nodding, tendrils flickering rapidly, flailing about, ocular sensor widening, colors shifting from the bright orange to a muted lime green, giving a rapid fire string of beeps, boops, squeaks and trills, launching into a long, complicated explanation, color shifting brighter and brighter before seemingly realizing Raphael couldn’t understand him, rolling his ocular sensor, shaking his head. He sighed, making a little fluttering movement, a glimmering holographic projection of prismatic colors illuminating in front of him, colors shifting, rolling and turning, forming the letters for ‘I’m Sorry’ along with a little sad faced emoji at the end.

Raphael blinked a few times in surprise before seemingly startling, giving a faint nod to Becks.

“Thank you Becks. Nice to meet you by the way.”

Becks froze in a very Simon-esque move, giving a very distinctive groan like sound, one feeler raising up, covering his ocular sensor, shaking his head faintly before moving the tendril away, raising it giving a sheepish, near shy little wave.

Simon nodded like a bobble head, leaning into his natural rapid- breathless Simon-babble in hopes he can get everything out in time.

“Oookay then-anyways introductions- Becks this is Raphael Santiago, the head of Oasis and my- _our_ \- new boss who has been nice enough to fight through a mountain of paper work to give us this opportunity that we do not want to screw up... _especially_ on the very first day.” He paused, flashing a slightly nervous smile, gesturing up towards the Tredectipod.

“Raphael hi again...Nice to see you...again, thank you for the job- a-again- _damnit_ _stupid_ _word loop_...sorry-happens sometimes, just ignore it- it’ll pass, they always do. Sorry for the random robo- obnoxiousness. Won’t happen aga-er anymore...

W-well okay not gonna lie he will be obnoxious- a lot...like a LOT a lot- but not _that_ kind of obnoxious. More in a snarky fashion-critical drama queen kinda way- though it’s not like that’s gonna be an issue with you cause you look l-uh I-I mean...totally won’t be an issue here.

It really does grow on you after a while and despite the snark and fashionista tendencies he actually is very intelligent and super productive and totally, completely irreplaceable.

He’s been through dozens of anomalies and can compile data faster than any system that I know of. He has the data from every anomaly I’ve ever encountered compiled, sorted, cross-referenced and analyzed. I really couldn’t do my job without him...I’m really- really, **_really_** hoping I won’t have to try to find a way to...cause I don’t think I can...I wouldn’t even try.”

Becks startled on his shoulder, turning to face him, head shaking, squeaking and clicking, gesturing animatedly at the window.

“I know Becks- and yes it is.” Simon sighed, shrugging, reaching up, lightly brushing against his head, calming him, smiling softly, gaze shifting from the little tredectipod back over to Raphael, again giving a faint shrug.

“Sorry M-uh-Raphael, I know that seems super pushy and demanding on my first day- in my first hour- in our first official meeting- that’s really NOT me-”

Raphael gave a soft chuckle, brow quirking, a faint smirk tugging at his pretty lips.

“Our first meeting seems to disprove that.”

Simon flushed brightly, fidgeting, giving a nervous nod, holding a finger up.

“O-okay so it kind of does- but I’m really not...Except when it’s something really **_really_** important.

Like this once in a lifetime job...Or Becks. Especially Becks.

He’s been by my side for over eight years. He’s indispensable and obnoxious and sometimes a colossal pain but h-he’s...He’s Becks. He’s one of my best friends...he’s like family...

W-well not **_like_** \- he is my family. And this job is amazing but there’s no way I could just abandon him for it. I know he’d try to hide it but he’d be absolutely crushed if I went to work here every day and he had to stay behind.

We’re a package deal. I really couldn’t imagine working here without him. I-I won’t work here without him.” He swallowed, looking up, meeting Raphael’s gaze head on.

Raphael held his gaze, lingering a few moments before relaxing, giving a slight shrug, a hint of a smile tugging at his pretty lips.

“Well then it’s quite fortunate you won’t have to.”

Both Simon and Becks started, setting up hopefully.

“W-what? Really?”

Becks leaned forward eagerly, giving a soft, cautious little chirp, ocular sensor widening, clasping two tendrils together, giving the best hopeful puppy look ever displayed by a technically inanimate being.

Raphael blinked curiously, a bright, inquisitive flicker shimmering in those gorgeously dark eyes. A soft, somewhat disbelieving little chuckle slipped out, flashing a warm smile, leaning in, gaze flickering over to Simon.

“Yes really...seems like a wonderful addition to the team, both of you. He can stay.” He smiled again, catching Simon’s eyes, lingering momentarily before shifting over to Becks, reaching up, holding out a finger much like Divya had.

Becks shifted forward nervously, cautiously reaching forward, tendril wrapping around his finger, giving a light shake, a shy little squeaking sound emitting, gesturing nervously with one of his front tendrils.

Raphael smiled, glancing over at Simon, brow quirking. Simon startled faintly, flushing, bouncing lightly on his heels.

“Oh umm...He said he really is sorry, it was totally unintentional and he’s especially sorry if he offended you- it wasn’t his intention...ninety percent of what he says people don’t understand so he forgets sometime what humans can and can’t understand meaning he doesn’t really have a functioning brain to speech center filter- which kinda ends up landing him in hot water...” Simon laughed softly, shrugging, a self-deprecating little smile tugging at his lips, nodding towards him.

“One of the many things we have in common.”

Raphael chuckled softly, shifting forward a bit, gaze flickering over Simon curiously.

“So your brain to speech-center filter doesn’t work?”

Simon giggled softly, shrugging, feeling his cheeks warm, shifting closer, reaching up, tucking a few Light brown curls behind his ear.

“Well it _does_...just nowhere near as fast as my ACTUAL speech-center. It’s basically in a never ending game of catch up and frantic damage control. A lot of my internal thoughts don’t always manage to actually **_stay_** internal...kind of escapes...and I don’t realize it until it’s too late. Like WAY too late. I’ve been told it’s pretty entertaining...at least when it’s not totally mortifying.”

Raphael gave a surprisingly warm laugh, those pretty, deep eyes flickering over Simon, causing his heart to do that annoying little flippy thing again.

“Looking forward to it.”

Simon huffed out a laugh, giving a playfully exasperated look, and purposefully fake smile.

“Great.”

Raphael nodded eagerly.

“Isn’t it?”

Simon couldn’t help a little laugh, rolling his eyes, subconsciously slipping closer, tucking a few curls behind his ear before glancing up, hesitantly meeting Raphael gaze, brow raising hopefully.

“So he’s okay?”

Raphael’s head tilted.

“He-oh Becks. Yes...of course.” He smiled, gaze slipping from Simon over to Becks, meeting his Ocular sensor, head tilting graciously, giving a bit of a wave.

“Don’t give it another thought little one. Besides I kinda get that a lot...guess I just have that effect.” He smirked, leaning in, flashing a cheeky little wink.

Becks gave what sounded a hell of a lot like a giggle, color slipping from bright forest green to a brilliant rosy blush pink, shifting, stumbling a bit. Simon reaching up quickly, just managing to catch and steady the suddenly wobbly tendriled little Tredectipod.

_D-did he seriously just make a freaking robot giggle, blush and near faint?_

_Crap what chance does poor_ _Simon_ _have at this?!_

Simon blinked in confusion, looking from Becks over to an irritatingly smirky Raphael, leaning back a bit, looking past Raphael over to Divya in confusion.

Divya chuckled, shrugging unconcerned, head tilting towards Raphael.

“Yeah...he kinda has that effect too.”

“I-wh-that’s j-d...” Simon trailed off, blinking rapidly before just shaking his head, deciding to lean into the crazy, taking a deep breath, glancing back up, smiling faintly.

“Well if anything we got the introductions out of the way...on the plus side I didn’t get the fashion critique/tredectipod fangirling I thought was coming so I guess there is that. Don’t get me wrong- I know they’re coming but I’m perfectly fine putting them off a bit.

Besides I really am looking forward to Divya’s tour o-”

“Actually It’s not gonna be my tour.” Divya cut in, shifting forward, gesturing towards his holowatch, giving an apologetic shrug.

“Something came up-”

Raphael glanced over, brow quirking.

“It did? I didn’t hear anything.”

Divya smirked back.

“I have it on silent.”

“You don’t usually.”

“Well I do today.”

“W-” Raphael began only to be abruptly cut off by a totally dismissive wave from Divya, turning to him, smiling.

“Sorry again Simon- I know you were looking forward to the tour but I really do need to take this, very important, totally unavoidable.

Simon deflated a bit, giving a slight nod.

“Oh um... o-okay...we could do it later...maybe just show me where I’ll be working a-”

Divya shook his head.

“Well that won’t work. You definitely need a tour. There’s a lot to process here, and the best way to do that is a tour...I really don’t have the time b...hmm...” She trailed off, glancing over, eyes sparking bright, something seemingly occurring to her.

“Hey, you know what? Raph here has a super light schedule this morning...he could show you around.”

Simon startled glancing between the two, shaking his head nervously.

“Oh umm...n-he’s the head of the company. He has to have more important things t-I couldn’t ask him to...I mean that’s j...“ He trailed off, shaking his head again, glancing away, cheeks warming.

Raphael met Divya’s gaze, seemingly an entire conversation contained in one look. He shifted a bit before taking a deep breath, shaking his head, gaze shifting from Divya to Simon, leaning in a bit, catching his eye, flashing a surprisingly soft smile.

“I am, I don’t, and you didn’t ask, I offered...w-well okay Divya offered...but I’d be more than happy to show you around.”

Simon blinked.

“I-y-you would?”

Raphael smiled, nodding.

“Yes.”

Angie chuckled, head shaking.

“Wow who knew supervillains were so accommodating.” Simon thought.

Raphael blinked, giving a surprised laugh, the sound perfectly echoed by Divya’s bright laughter.

_W-oh...oops..._

Simon flushed, giving a sheepish little half laugh, reaching up, nervously scratching at the back of his neck.

“Uh-yeah...r-remember the whole ‘escaping inner thoughts’ thing I said about?”

“Ah so this w-”

“Yup...sorry.”

Raphael chuckled, head tilting.

“No need to apologize...it IS quite entertaining...I’m very much looking forward to our tour.”

Simon huffed, giving a totally heatless glare.

“You’re gonna be actively trying to get me to do the whole escaping inner thought thing, aren’t you?”

Raphael shrugged, smirking.

“Would you expect anything less from a supervillian?”

Simon flushed clear to his ears while the other two burst out laughing. He glared again- which did nothing but cause more laughter from the other two- he thinks he even heard a muffled little snicker from Becks but he’s pretending he doesn’t.

Finally he just huffs, rolling his eyes, giving a bit of a wave towards Divya.

“Didn’t you have some life and death situation to deal with or something?”

Divya chuckled, nodding but making no move towards the door. Finally Simon just huffed, choosing to ignore Divya, turning his focus back to Raphael, deciding to just lean into the crazy yet again (He has a feeling that’s gonna be a running theme working here), giving a slight shrug, playing the only card he had.

“Alright so maybe we should just move on, let bygones be bygones and all that. My robot kinda sorta quasi- catcalled you and I accidently called you a supervillian, your Medical officer chipped me without my knowledge or consent- thinking we can just call it even, yeah?”

Raphael seemed to startle at the mention of the chip, the humor slipping, a near guilty look passing over his distractingly gorgeous features, glancing up, meeting Simon’s gaze.

“Oh uh...yeah about that, s-”

Apparently it was Simon’s turn to wave it off. He smiled, shaking his head, reaching up, tucking a few runaway curls behind his ear, shifting a little closer to Raphael relaxing minutely.

“Yeah, no- Divya explained. Government contracts, need to know, corporate/legal oroboros, can’t tell about the chip until someone’s an employee/ isn’t an employee till they have a chip- I got it. It’s really underhanded but I know it’s not how you want it and it’s not like I’d expect you to completely disregard a direct government order for some guy you just met.”

Raphael smiled, nodding.

“Exactly.”

“Right s-”

It’d take two- maybe three dates for that...don’t want to come off as too easy after all.”

Simon startled before giving a faint laugh, rolling his eyes.

“Cute...”

Raphael smirked, winking.

“Well thank you- gotta admit not a compliment I’m used to getting.”

Simon sputtered,

“I- I didn’t me-i...ugh...” he sighed, shaking his head, trying to ignore the flush he could feel creeping up his cheeks, rubbing at his temples before glancing back up at Raphael, eyebrow quirking.

“Is this gonna be like a thing with you?”

Raphael’s head tilted, brow quirking, leaning in, gaze flickering over his, pointedly shifting over his cheeks and up to the tips of his ears that Simon can feel warming, stupidly appealing smirk picking up a tic.

“I don’t know. Is the flustered, babbling, escaping inner thoughts and blushing gonna be a thing for you?”

Simon snorted, nodding, giving a little wave.

“Oh yeah- no question.”

Raphael smirked, nodding, giving a little wave right back.

“Then oh yes...no question...”

Simon flushed even brighter, huffing, trying to glare- which really doesn’t hold the same effect with the blush. Finally he just decides to move on.

“Anyways no hard feeling about the chipping thing- the circumstances may suck but I have a feeling it is SO gonna be worth it. From what Divya told me about it it sounds amazing- beyond amazing. One of the most incredible inventions I’ve ever heard of. The creator must be absolutely brilliant.”

Raphael smiled, giving a near demure nod.

“Well thank you Simon, high praise indeed...though I should note that one I do get a fair bit more than ‘cute’.”

Simon blinked in confusion.

“Umm...what?”

Divya smiled, shrugging.

“The Rosetta chip is one of Raph’s inventions.”

Simon yet again froze.

“What? No...”

Raphael smirked, shrugging.

“Yup.”

“No way...”

“Yes...is that really so surprising?”

“Well...yeah.”

Raphael tilted his head.

“Why is that?”

Simon flailed.

“I-it j- b-because you- you’re not, you don’t...Scientists don’t look like that, Inventors do not look like that!”

“Like what?”

_“That attractive!”_

Raphael’s head tilted, gaze flickering over Simon.

“You think I am attractive?”

Simon scoffed, rolling his eyes.

“Dude come on- I just saw you make a freaking robot blush and nearly faint. It’s not a compliment just a statement of an undeniable, unequivocal fact”

Raphael’s pretty deep eyes sparked bright, a dizzying little flicker of light dancing in the impossibly dark depths, swallowing, taking a slightly deeper breath, shifting forward.

“So you don’t think a Scientist and an inventor can be attractive?”

“I-w-well yeah I mean of course they could but t-”

Raphael tilted his head, brow quirking faintly.

“You are a scientist. You are an inventor.”

**_“Exactly!”_ **

Raphael smirked.

“Exactly...glad we agree.”

Simon nodded.

“Right g-wait...what? Am I agreeing with you or you with me?”

Raph smirked, eyebrow quirking.

“I’m too stubborn; you are most definitely agreeing with me.”

Simon sputtered.

_“_ _No I_ ’ _m not._ _”_

“Yeah you are.”

“No I-”

“E-Simon” Divya cut in barely holding back a chuckle.

“You DO realize that you’re arguing that you’re **_not_** attractive...right?”

Simon blinked.

“Umm...”

Raph chuckled softly. Slipping over next to his, smoothly reaching up, hand resting lightly on his shoulder just beside Becks, looking over, catching his eye.

“Have I mentioned how glad I am you are here Simon?”

Simon flushed, Raphael’s smirk picked up a bit more at the corner, tugging his closer to his side, turning beginning for the door.

“Okay now that that’s settled let’s began the tour, yes?” he paused, glancing expectantly over at Simon.

...

..

.

“Simon?”

“I feel like this is another trap...”

##  {*_*^*_*^*_*^*_*^*_*^*_*^*_*^*_*^}

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **_Oroboros=_** _An ancient symbol of a snake eating it’s own tail- seemed pretty apropos here..._
> 
> Oh my god no wonder this damn chapter took me so long- it’s the length of like three! Over 9500 words! Geez.
> 
> Sorry for such a long wait between chapters- hoping the supersized chapter makes up for it. This one kind of meandered a lot and have more than a few info dumps- should’ve probably been broken up into at least two chapter but I kinda have this one already planned out and I already have all the other chapters plots worked out and we didn’t really have too much more time to spend on this so this’ll have to do. As it is next chapter for this one is gonna be a 2parter- the 1st half will be a check in with Magnus and Alec and then we’ll get to the end of the tour/Simon’s new lab- again should probably be two separate chapters but we do actually have a storyline that ISN’T just Simon’s 1st day of work so I really do have to kind of push it along.
> 
> I’m really looking forward to this story- this verse- it’s gonna be a lot of fun. I really love Divya here and his and Raphael’s dynamic- it’s gonna be a fair bit different from other verses but most definitely a good different (thinking it’s kinda similar to their dynamic in the SpyVerse).
> 
> And as always here’s the update list:
> 
> ~~A Start Of Something New (Verse 7)~~  
>  ~~~~
> 
> ~~The Girl In The Mirror~~  
>  ~~(Verse 4)~~  
>  ~~~~
> 
> ~~Nosey Neighbors~~  
>  ~~(Verse 9)~~  
>  ~~~~
> 
> ~~Love Bug (Verse 2)~~  
>  ~~~~
> 
> ~~Picture Perfect (Verse 8)~~  
>  ~~~~
> 
> **You Can’t Go Home Again (Verse 1)**
> 
> A Study In Chaos (Verse 6)
> 
> This Is Why You Don’t Wander Away From The Group (Verse 5)
> 
> Death Was Just The Beginning (Verse 3)
> 
> Ooh! Next up is Verse 1, that’ll be fun...honestly it’s harder for that verse to hold my attention when put up against spies, psychics, aliens, demons, warlocks and the rest of it but I really do love it and I am genuinely looking forward to the storylines this season.
> 
> I’m hoping this year I’ll be quicker with the updates- thinking we’re pretty close to past the crazy (or will be by Jan.20th) so hoping when things ease up in reality at least a bit it’ll be easier for me to focus on the fun stuff.
> 
> Anyways what do you guys think so far?

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my god I love Becks so freaking much! He’s just so adorable. I adore this verse- it’s definitely in my top four (Hey it’s hard competition- we have noir detective warlocks and a demon crime boss, aliens, spies, psychics, imaginary friends, detectives and **_more_** warlocks. That’s some tough competition right there)
> 
> We have SO much in store for this one.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy this as much as I do.
> 
> So what do you think so far?


End file.
